The snow fighting information that Jim McKee and Jimmy Blouch have been providing is invaluable information for the snow fighting book I am writing.
Unfortunately most of the D&RGW train register books and dispatcher books have been destroyed or undiscovered to this point. I have to reply on newspaper accounts for much of the data and accumulating newspaper info is very time consuming. Following is an example of narrow gauge snow fighting out of Leadville in 1914.
February 2, 1914, Monday
For the first time in several years, the mining properties on Breece Hill and Big Evans gulch (note this is the Ibex branch) were cut off from communications for several days on account of the recent storm. The high wind drifted the snow into all the cuts on the roads for a depth of 4 to 8 feet. The railroad to this section has been tied up since the storm, but efforts are being made to clear the tracks so shipments of ore can be resumed. The failure of the road to get through has made a scarcity of cars.
From Friday’s Daily
Three engines on the narrow gauge D&RG Ibex branch became stalled near the Jonny Number One mine when one of the engines left the rails. The crew could go neither forward or backward, coal and water gave out, and the engines had to be killed and allowed to stand until a narrow gauge engine can be brought from Salida or until water and coal can be conveyed to the engines. The train crew telephoned yardmaster Saint Clair and a livery stable had to be called on to send a conveyance to being the men from the snowbound Jonny road.
From Saturday’s Daily
The D&RG train crews of the Ibex branch line to the hill mines succeeded in recovering the engines which they had to abandon Thursday when one of them became derailed while attached to a rotary snow plow (note this was D&RG Rotary ON) near the Jonny Mine Number One. A narrow gauge engine standing in the yards was pressed into service to draw two of the stalled engines to Leadville in the morning. The three engines pulling cabooses filled with men, returned in the afternoon, coming back later with the two engines and the rotary.
